Posts Tagged ‘Cynicism’

This is not about the digital world, neither about the sin or religion, but it's good to read. I'm gonna declare a cure for cynicism here on this post.

Whether you're a Christian or a Muslim (or even irreligious), you most probably believe Greed to be a bad thing, and a deadly sin perhaps. Since I was a child, I always defied my own greed and tried to be as indifferent about excessive growth as possible, to control greed and not letting it grow it's roots inside of me, taking control.

But Muslim scholars have an alternate belief, that nothing in this world is purely evil - not even sins or devil himself - and everything is for the good of something. That one I didn't keep in mind while I was wrestling that wicked creature...

Now I'm greedless. I've been greed-free for a dozen years, and nothing seems to really interest me. I've had my chances of acquiring huge wealth, power and status and I've grasped them from time to time, but always let go way before it actually meant something.

I've also been a cynic for a dozen years, with no interesting point in my life. Don't take me wrong, I'm very dedicated, motivated and hardworking and mostly successful too, I just don't see a point. I'm not passionate about anything. I don't love doing stuff. I don't even like it. I just know what is good to be done, so I do it.

Out of nowhere, I realized that being greed-free is my problem. No greed causes cynicism. Greed is Good for motivation, for passion, for progress and for life. It's not just good, it is mandatory. Let me tell you a story...

On my first trip to Iraq, me and a couple friends visited Bazaar to buy some goods and souvenir to bring for our families. The shopkeepers at the Bazaar seemed very odd in our point of view, they had no desire to sell their goods to us; they had no greed. We intended to spend considerable money, yet nobody was interested. We had to pick the goods ourselves, package them, count them and pay the price for them. To make it more weird, one of the shoppers left his shop in the middle of our progress!

I started thinking, why would they want more money? There's nothing they can get with more money. All they want - and could have - with their lives is an air conditioner, a house, and some basic food, which are all available for free there.

A couple years later, on my second trip to Iraq, we also wanted some souvenir, but this time things were different. The United States had established it's infrastructure in Iraq, and people were greedy now. You could see the greed glowing in their eyes. They craved for money. Things were much more expensive. Money was suddenly more important than anything else. Greed had the sovereign.

Greed, like any other human emotion and desire, is a horse to tame, not a bug to kill or a weakness to destroy. Greed will devour one if it is not tamed, and can be exploited as a weakness, yet without it one can not proceed well.